The use of small, portable, hand-held electronic devices has become prevalent recently, particularly for cellular telephones and PDA (personal data assistant) devices. Many individuals own several different electronic devices, which have slightly different yet overlapping functions. Manipulating, carrying and storing several of these devices are time-consuming and inefficient, such that a more efficient solution would be desirable. In addition, different types of devices are more suitable for different types of activities.
Attempts have been made to combine various functions into a single device, but the resultant devices have typically proved to be too large, heavy and bulky for efficient use. Furthermore, the users of these devices do not necessarily need to be able to use all of the functions simultaneously, but may instead prefer to use only a subset of functions at any given moment. On the other hand, users do want to be able to carry at least those functions, in a portable format, which are used most frequently. Therefore, the currently available solutions clearly have a number of drawbacks.
Examples of such attempted solutions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,185, which teaches a system in which a portable component, which contains the actual high-level functional components of the device (the CPU, sufficient software for operating the device, and personal information about the user) is attached to a console. The console provides the input devices such as a mouse and keyboard, a display device and so forth. Therefore, the console provides the peripheral devices, while the portable component provides the computational power for the device. However, this system has a number of disadvantages. In particular, the expensive components of the computer, such as the CPU, operating system software, memory and so forth, are all contained within the portable component. Therefore, each user must purchase these expensive components, thereby increasing the expensive of the portable component for each user.
PCT Application No. WO 94/00970 discloses a modular notebook computer, which features a framework with module bays for receiving various modules such as the CPU, power, floppy disk, RAM memory, and so forth. However, clearly the requirement for many different modules decreases the portability of such modules, since the user would not wish to carry many modules between different frameworks. Therefore, the modules are not sufficiently reusable.
PCT Application No. WO 92/18924 discloses a modular computer, in which a docking station features the monitor, keyboard and so forth, which is intended to remain stationary. A portable module contains the CPU and memory. Again, the expensive components of the computer, such as the CPU, operating system software, memory and so forth, are all contained within the portable component. Therefore, each user must purchase these expensive components, thereby increasing the expensive of the portable component for each user.